


If happy lives a mile away

by Ostodvandi



Series: The Adrienverse [3]
Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Domestic Fluff, Family Feels, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, Modern Era, Original Character(s), Trans Felix Hugo Fraldarius, Trans Male Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2019-12-24
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:02:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21919534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ostodvandi/pseuds/Ostodvandi
Summary: Like every year, Dimitri and Felix, now married and with a son, travel to visit Rodrigue at the Fraldarius house.
Relationships: Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd & Edelgard von Hresvelg, Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd/Felix Hugo Fraldarius, Felix Hugo Fraldarius & Rodrigue Achille Fraldarius
Series: The Adrienverse [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1579558
Comments: 7
Kudos: 51





	If happy lives a mile away

**Author's Note:**

> The title is from the song "Invisible" by Zara Larsson from the film "Klaus", and considering they're travelling to visit Rodrigue I thought it was a fitting title. Thank you @saunatonttu as always for helping me out with the proofreading!
> 
> Watch Klaus.

A one hour train ride shouldn't be this exhausting, but it still is. It could be the many nights of too little sleep lately, it could be the prospect of seeing his father again. It could be both, really.

He turns to Adrien, whose nose sticks to the glass, his eyes wide open as if the same landscape over and over again is entertaining enough. Well, maybe it is to the seven-year-old. 'When are we getting to grandpapa's home?'

Felix checks his telephone briefly. 'Five or ten minutes.'

'Awh…' Adrien laments, looking away from the window.

'It's not that long.'

'But I wanna see grandpapa now…' He pouts and fidgets with his own clothes. 

'Patience,' Felix insists, stroking the kid's golden hair absentmindedly. 'Grandpapa isn't going anywhere.'

Adrien leans into his father’s hand, smiling giddily. Behind them, Dimitri naps, and Felix can hear him snoring from time to time. Apparently, he’s managed to fall into deep sleep in a train of all places. It makes sense, considering how tired he’s been lately - both of them, actually - but it’s still amusing.

The lights of the city become visible after a while, and Adrien grows restless with every minute that goes by, almost jumping off his seat when they enter the station. 

‘Settle down,’ Felix murmurs calmly, and Dimitri is up as soon as the loudspeakers announce they’ll be arriving at the station in a couple minutes.

‘Don’t forget your stuff,’ Felix tells Adrien, before getting up to help Dimitri with their luggage. 

‘Yes!’ Proudly, Adrien picks up his backpack.

Felix smirks once their suitcase is on the floor, looking up at his husband, who still has trouble keeping his one eye open. ‘That looked like one hell of a nap.’

‘It-’ A wide yawn interrupts him, and he covers his mouth with a hand. ‘It was. I’ll need another one when we get there...’

‘You might as well just go to sleep, then,’ Felix comments, starting to push the suitcase down the corridor between the seats. Dimitri crouches down, properly placing a scarf around Adrien’s neck and a fluffy hat on his head.

‘There you go.’ 

He gives Adrien's cheeks a small squeeze, before they follow after Felix.

  
  


The train station of his childhood always makes Felix feel specific, sort of uncomfortable way. The building is mostly a scale of cold greys, except during Christmas, where the whole place is filled with lights and reds, greens and golds. Adrien clings to his hand, and then to Dimitri’s, unable to stay still in his excitement.

Despite the years, it’s hard for Felix to share the sentiment his husband and son feel every year at this time.

He’s the first to see Rodrigue, staying away from the crowd that is welcoming the other travellers, and his father shoots him a serene smile before his gaze turns to Dimitri and Adrien. 

‘Grandpapa!’ Dimitri lets go of the kid's hand, so he can run off to his grandfather and hop onto his lap. Thankfully, this time he is a little more careful to not (almost) make Rodrigue fall from his wheelchair. 

‘Hello, little one,’ he laughs, ruffling his hair.

‘Rodrigue!’ In the same childishly excited tone, Dimitri drags their suitcase to Rodrigue’s place, a beaming smile on his face. ‘How are you feeling?’

‘As well as I can be,’ he replies, and Dimitri puts Adrien back in the ground. ‘How about you three?’

‘We’re doing just fine. Right, Felix?’

His husband huffs, grabbing his father’s wheelchair to start pushing it toward the taxis. ‘Let’s just get home. There’s some stuff left to do.’

‘Ah, right…’ he picks Adrien up. ‘We have many things to tell you about, Rodrigue.’

‘Let’s leave that for when we get home. Good news are always better around the fireplace.’

* * *

Felix’s childhood home is big and old, at least by the standards of their apartment, and there’s a familiar smell of wood and pine as soon as he and his father enter that awaken a deeply buried nostalgia within him. This neighbourhood was originally its own province, but with the growth of the city, it got absorbed into the latter. Convenient, in Felix’s opinion.

‘Did uncle leave some wood for the fireplace?’ Felix questions, having put Rodrigue’s folded wheelchair aside at the entrance. His father sits on the sofa, one hand holding onto his cane. Adrien and Dimitri have gone up the stairs, to leave the suitcase and the child’s backpack.

‘A bunch, yes. He will be spending the festivities with his friends, he’s told me… Since you three would come.’

Felix rolls his eyes and sits on the sofa in front of Rodrigue’s, wanting to melt into it. ‘I should have expected that.’

‘Unable to say no to his friends, as usual.’

Unable to say no in general, Felix would say. What a fool. ‘At least he didn’t leave you alone.’ 

That would’ve been a dick move, if Felix had ever seen one. Rodrigue, for whatever reason, laughs at his words.

Felix doesn’t bother asking what the hell is so funny, and even if he had bothered, Dimitri’s sudden appearance would have interrupted him anyway. And so his husband opens the door to the living room, letting all the damn cold in. Felix shivers. ‘Oh, I see the fireplace isn’t… Rodrigue, where did you store the wood again?’

It’s like he’s never been here before, Felix thinks, arms crossed and brow furrowed in his almost constant state of grumpiness whenever he has to deal with cold weather. Before receiving Rodrigue’s directions, Dimitri smiles and walks to Felix’s sofa, bending down to kiss his hair and put his jacket over him. ‘Hang in there just a little longer, love.’

‘And Adrien?’

‘In his bedroom, getting the stuff out of his backpack,’ Dimitri answers as he walks out of the room, closing the door carefully.

Felix doesn’t even need to look at his father to know the insufferable grin that his lips are making. And that’s why he doesn’t do that. ‘Stop.’

‘I’m sorry.’

‘You’re not.’ Felix curls himself up in Dimitri’s jacket, too big for him and definitely warm and fluffy. It smells like his usual cologne, and despite smelling it every single day, Felix sighs. ‘I don’t want to see an old man smile like a lovestruck teenager virgin.’

‘You know it brings me joy to see you two happy, Felix.’

‘Shut it. I know.’

He knows, and that’s why it’s especially embarrassing that his old man was mildly right about them being able to mend their relationship after years of thinking it dead. He just didn’t predict they would mend it to the point of being married and having a kid, but that’s besides the point. He hates conceding that Rodrigue was right about something. Isn’t that how everyone acts about their parents, anyway? One day Adrien will be mad at him for being right. And that’s just how life is.

‘I wish…’ Felix looks up at his father, who shakes his head immediately. ‘Ah, forget it, it’s not important.’

Felix frowns, and his eyes stray to the photos Rodrigue still keeps over the fireplace. ‘It’s about Glenn.’

Rodrigue sighs, leaning back on the sofa, and his eyes look so dangerously distant they make Felix’s stomach shrink. ‘I wish he were here to see… all of this. But I won’t mention it again. I know you dislike it.’

Felix hums. It’s better like this, if Rodrigue keeps this talk for Dimitri’s ears. He considers taking the photos on the fireplace away, just in case Adrien sees them and starts asking as kids usually do.

In the end, he doesn’t.

* * *

‘Careful, dear.’

Adrien puts his hand away, gently nudged by his father, but his eyes are still wide open, trying to take the flames of the fireplace in with a strange fascination for the dancing colours of orange, red, and yellow. ‘You can’t touch that, unless you want to be hurt.’

‘I knooooow,’ the child whines, but Dimitri can’t help but question his own son’s sense of self-preservation. Could that sort of thing be hereditary, or is it just a normal kid’s recklessness? ‘I wasn’t gonna touch it!’

‘It looked like you were.' Dimitri picks him up, leaving a long smooch on his cheek in hopes to make Adrien’s little angry face go away. It does, partially. ‘In any case, dinner will be done soon. Are you hungry?’

Adrien nods, brow still furrowed, and that face always makes him think of Felix. ‘Very hungry.’

‘Well, then you only have to wait a tiny bit longer. Remember, Santa is coming tomorrow night.’

The mention of the bearded man in red makes Adrien’s eyes light up, determination to be the best kid there ever was in them. ‘Huh! I’m a good kid.’

‘Yes, you are.’ Dimitri, despite himself, cannot help but smooch his cheek again, before the kid’s feet return to the floor once more. ‘And since you are such a good kid, could you go and check if grandpapa needs anything? And tell him about dinner being done soon.’

‘Sure!’

And so his son runs off to Rodrigue’s bedroom, away from the fireplace.

Dimitri stretches, making a low sound, and decides to take a little of fresh air. Crossing the kitchen on his way to the balcony, the delicious smell of homemade food fills his nose, making his stomach grumble loudly. Too bad he won’t be able to taste it like it deserves, but the smell is enough to tell him it will be good.

Even before opening the transparent door to the balcony, he notices a figure standing outside, leaning on the railing. His hair, as dark as the night sky, is gently swung by a breeze, and he’s wearing Dimitri’s coat. He isn’t startled by Dimitri’s steps as he walks closer to him, nor to his hand on his back.

‘Isn’t it too cold for you here?’

‘I needed some air,’ Felix replies, sighing tiredly, and leans against Dimitri’s chest in an automated motion. His husband’s arms go around his hip, his nose buried in the loose hair, soft kisses pressing against it. 

‘Coming here always makes you a little melancholic,’ Dimitri murmurs.

‘I’m fine.’ 

If Felix says so, he’ll let him be, but not without some more kisses and other displays of affection. Despite saying again and again that he isn’t an affectionate person, Felix melts into them, turning around to face Dimitri eventually.

Their foreheads touch, and Felix’s eyelids fall slightly.

‘I love you, Felix.’

Felix sighs, averting his gaze before muttering, choking in his own words. ‘I- love you as well.’

Dimitri smiles, kissing the corner of his husband’s lip. ‘You don’t have to force yourself to say it… Even if it does make me happy to hear it.’ A brief kiss, barely a second, and Dimitri’s arms holding Felix even closer. ‘You wouldn’t be married to me with a kid if you didn’t love me, right?’

‘Oh, I’d never put up with that for just anyone,’ Felix groans. ‘It’s exhausting.’

‘But worth it, I hope.’ Dimitri’s eyebrows shoot up, pretending to be nervous about Felix’s reply. 

Felix would like to tell him that, looking back, it has been worth every second of it. That neither of them thought they could reach this point. But words are hard, and are even harder for Felix Hugo Fraldarius. ‘...Yes.’

So Dimitri has to work with that monosyllabic reply, and, thankfully, he reads into Felix’s voice like nobody else. He grabs Felix’s hand with his own two, keeping it warm as he lifts it to his lips. He kisses the knuckles, over the engagement ring, and twists it a little to kiss the palm as well, putting it against his cheek.

‘Let’s go back inside,’ Felix suggests, and Dimitri notices his cheeks going slightly pink even in the mild darkness. ‘Dinner should be done already.’

* * *

Felix wakes up to the sounds of Dimitri clothing himself, and to his kiss on his hair. He grumbles a question, and God knows how his husband understands said random sounds. ‘I’m going to get Edelgard from the station.’

‘This early…’ Felix whines, opening one single eye to look up at Dimitri’s sleepy smile. Couldn’t she have booked a ticket for later?

‘I know, I know… But you can keep sleeping, love. I’ll be right back.’

He grumbles something again, to which Dimitri only replies with a short laugh. As if he could go back to sleep now. A decade of marriage should’ve taught him already that once Felix wakes up, he’s unable to fall asleep again. 

A look at his phone tells him it’s 7:28 am the moment Dimitri leaves the house, and Felix sighs. His father will wake up in half an hour, and Adrien will be up even later considering the doesn’t have class. He can stay inside the warmth of these blankets for a while, lazing around. 

It’s been a while since he last saw Edelgard. She lives a whole country away, so there aren’t that many occasions in which she could visit, but few people can resist how insistent Dimitri gets about spending holidays in family.

Family… Felix sighs, shifting to lie on Dimitri’s side of the bed. Dimitri had told him so many times he had always dreamed of a big family, and it made sense, but he had never suggested they have another child besides Adrien, and Felix can’t know if it’s because he doesn’t want to pressure him or because this is a family big enough for him.

That would be one of the things he would talk out with him, if he were any good at starting these kinds of conversations. And he could blame his own father’s attitude towards these situations, but even he knows that isn’t fair.

He closes his eyes, deciding to try at least a light nap before he has to inevitably get up.

* * *

She arrives shortly before they’re done with breakfast, accompanied by a Dimitri that seems to be overflowing with excitement to have her here. Adrien, too, is happy to see his aunt, not aware of the awkward look Rodrigue gives her. Felix himself salutes her politely and leaves it at that for now.

It’s complicated. Dimitri and Edelgard’s relationship is complicated, and Felix is glad Adrien isn’t old enough to ask about the complicated and convoluted details. She’s his aunt, nothing more or less. Papa Dimitri’s sister, the eldest, as she likes to remind her brother of rather often.

‘So,’ Rodrigue gets up from his seat at the table, and Adrien helps him pick up the utensils they’ve used for breakfast. ‘We should start decorating the house now, then. Could you three fetch the Christmas decorations? Felix knows where they are.’

They are on the third floor, in the dusty attic that Rodrigue shouldn’t access on his own considering his health. So the three of them go up there, and, following Felix’s instructions, the siblings pick up the boxes of decorations.

‘Ah, this brings me back,’ Dimitri murmurs, picking up decorations from their boxes. ‘Rodrigue told me you cried when some of these broke and he had to buy replacements…’

‘Don’t waste oxygen with that,’ Felix grumbles, leaving a box next to the door. 

‘Will we have time to use all of this?’ Edelgard questions, browsing through yet another box.

‘That’s what I tell my old man every year,’ he replies, arms crossed over his chest. ‘But don’t underestimate Dimitri’s obsession with Christmas.’

‘It’s the best time of the year!’ he insists, and holds up two boxes at once. ‘I’ll get going with these two. El, could you carry the Christmas tree downstairs?’

‘Sure.’ She smiles softly, watching him go.

Felix is about to pick up another box - this one filled with Nativity figurines - when he notices Edelgard looking at something in particular. A most cheesy Christmas decoration, a golden heart with a photo of what used to be the Fraldarius family, with twice as many members as it has now.

He can’t believe Rodrigue still keeps that. 

‘I know how it is,’ Edelgard says, her voice more like a very long sigh, ‘to spend these holidays like this.’

‘...Yes. Dimitri told me.’

‘Let’s discard this one.’

'Let's.'

* * *

By seven in the evening, they’re still decorating the house, this time Dimitri and Edelgard with Adrien’s eager help. From the kitchen, he hears the kid’s hurried steps to keep up with the adults, fetching certain things for them, and he smiles without looking up from the chicken they’ve so carefully prepared for tonight. 

‘Thank you,’ Rodrigue says suddenly, placing a hand on Felix’s shoulder. His father isn’t big on physical affection - like anyone in this damn family, really -, so he knows there’s something else besides the dinner he’s thankful for.

‘It’s just cooking some chicken.’

‘I meant for coming here. Keeping me company.’

‘We come here almost every year,’ Felix huffs, picking up the glasses and fancy cutlery for the occasion. 

‘Doesn’t mean I can’t be grateful.’

‘...You’re welcome, I guess.’ 

That is enough for Rodrigue, and he follows Felix to the dining room as he places everything needed for five people to eat. The Christmas tablecloth is the same that has always been used for the Fraldarius house’s Christmas since Felix was little, and Rodrigue has always kept it in pristine shape. Why so much dedication for a simple tablecloth, Felix wouldn’t know, but… Maybe he had inherited his father’s capacity to feel emotionally attached to useless objects.

‘We’re almost done!’ Dimitri announces, walking into the dining room followed by his sister and son. ‘Just the most important part remains…’

‘Oh?’ Felix raises an eyebrow, pretending he doesn’t know what it is. 

‘The star, papa!’ The sheer excitement in Adrien’s voice manages to get a smile out of Felix for the first time in the whole evening. ‘I’m gonna put the start! Up there.’ He points at the Christmas tree, still starless. 

‘Let’s see it, then. Quickly, our dinner is getting cold.’

Edelgard bends down, ceremoniously giving her nephew the star that should go on the top of the tree, and he holds it like it’s the most precious treasure in the world. ‘And this star should tell Santa that there is a very good kid in this house expecting presents.’

‘That’s me!’ Adrien says, clutching the star against his chest. Dimitri laughs, and lifts him carefully, just enough so he can reach the top of the Christmas tree by stretching his arms a little. 

The star fits just right in its place, like it does almost every year, and Dimitri celebrates it by kissing his son’s head. ‘Good job, Adrien.’

‘Now Santa will come for sure,’ Rodrigue assures him, already seated around the table. ‘But we have to eat dinner and go to sleep first.’

‘Yes, yes,’ Adrien replies, with the certainty of a seven-year-old that definitely knows all of Santa’s lore. He sits by his grandpa’s side, and Dimitri and Felix bring the Christmas dinnerware and the food itself to the table.

‘A toast,’ Dimitri raises his glass of wine, and Adrien imitates him with his glass of juice. ‘For the greatest time of the year, and for how well we all have behaved this year.’

Felix snorts, but nobody has to know why, and he focuses on the sound of glass hitting glass.

A small plate with cookies and a cup of milk are left over the fireplace, before the whole house goes dark.

* * *

Now, it’s time for Santa to act. Dimitri wakes up at four in the morning, and under Felix’s sleepy gaze, he takes the presents out of the closet. ‘Mmmh… Help?’

‘No, love,’ Dimitri leans down, leaving a small kiss on his lips. ‘Go back to sleep.’

‘Mmmmhh.’ Felix makes an unintelligible sound, and it takes him three seconds to collapse back into deep sleep. Dimitri laughs.

Now, it’s time for the hardest part: Sneaking out of his room without being heard by Adrien, who could very well have tried to stay awake the whole night waiting to hear Santa. Even if he can’t picture him managing to force himself awake for so long, he shouldn’t underestimate the power of a child excited to be the first one to actually see Santa leaving the presents under the tree.

Oddly enough, the door to the living room is slightly open. Dimitri frowns, and the hinges squeak when he pushes it.

There’s a figure crouching close to the tree, turned to him, and Dimitri smiles as soon as he recognizes it. ‘I didn’t know you were one of Santa Claus’ elves, El.’

‘I didn’t know you were, either,’ she jokes back, sitting on the floor instead, watching her brother leave the presents under the tree and reorganize them carefully. ‘Adrien truly was a good kid, huh.’

‘Not all of these are for him,’ Dimitri clarifies. ‘Some are for Felix, some for me, some for Rodrigue… And there’s one… It’s for a certain  _ Edelgard von Hresvelg _ . Do you know her?’

Edelgard laughs. ‘I have an idea about who she might be, yes.’

‘Good. I wouldn’t want this one present to go unreceived.’ Dimitri smiles, and rubs Edelgard’s back. His voice turns softer as he speaks again. ‘I… hope it wasn’t too bad.’

‘It was fine. Much fun as well…’

‘I apologize if it was awkward at times…’

‘I expected it to be.’ Edelgard picks up the present with her name, silently trying to guess whatever it could be by the shape. ‘But it was fun, decorating everything… Adrien is a sweetheart as well. The food was really good. Your husband feels like a grumpy old man as always, but… I think you two work perfectly together.’ 

‘Thank you. That means so much… All of it.’ Dimitri’s eyes wander, to the small packages by Edelgard’s side. ‘Oh? Looks like there are some extra, unexpected presents as well.’

‘I guess there are, yes.’ Edelgard smiles, and Dimitri pulls her into a tight hug that his sister gives back awkwardly. She was never one for big displays of affection, but Dimitri is surrounded by people like that and perfectly used to this. So she knows he isn’t hurt by her hesitation. 

‘Merry Christmas, El.’

‘Merry Christmas, Dimi.’

After eating Adrien’s cookies and drinking the milk together, they go back to their respective rooms in utmost silence. The clock glows 4:39, and Dimitri would swear he didn’t spend that long talking to El.

It’s not like it matters that much. He turns on the light of his nightstand, and slides inside his warm blankets, dedicating entire minutes to looking and his husband’s sleepy face. His hair is all over the pillow, his eyes closed in deep slumber, and his fingers curl a little under the touch of Dimitri’s hand. He then turns off the lights, snuggling up to Felix and putting his arm over his hip, gently pushing him closer.

There is only one thing Dimitri could possibly ask for in Christmas: this sort of happiness, the assurance that his family is happy and safe and will remain as such. 

Anything else, he can do without.


End file.
